Our Brave Band of Adventurers the Crimson Lotus:

• Charisma, a “human” -mutant- sorceress whose power source is Gamma Radiation which she was exposed to as a child.  As a child of the Atom her hair goes green in the presence of radiation and she progressively gets greener the more powerful spells she casts (and as she gets angry).  She has no love for the Technic League.
• Heidt, a ranger who has traded an affinity for nature for an affinity for machines.  This android has mastered cybertheurgy as well as the lasgun.  Has chosen the mechromancer archetype (blog post at some later point!).  Seeking to learn more about his history he has become an archaeological expert on all things related to the Rain of Stars.
• Rikku, an elven rogue who was adopted by Khonnir Baine when he found her wandering the wasteland near Torch more than a decade ago.  She claims to be a blood elf from a far-away land.  Her history is tied up with a nearby ruin.
• Sylvanus, a dark elf monk who escaped the clutches of mind flayer slavemasters in the area of the Scar of the Spider after a daring raid by surface dwelling heroes freed her.
• Brokthor, a human fighter who was raised by dwarfs and thinks he IS a dwarf.
• Tufast, a human cleric who serves Thor –  power of thunder and lightning.  Much like his barbarian family he hates technology and has a particular spite for robots.  He sees the cleansing power of lightning as the perfect antidote to the curse of the robot infestation of Nimmeria.
• Whiskifiss, a ratman ranger with a pet rust monster.  He likes to sleep in small compartments – for example a storage locker on the rhino.

The Choking Tower

Session 16

By Rikku Yuffina Kyrus

       Red Tooth praises us and we ask him about his other problem, the one about the undercover Technic League member(s). He doesn’t know much about it, but knows someone who does.  We enter town and he takes us to a nice house.  An old man sits on the porch, smoking happily away with his pipe.  He introduces himself as Iveck Gunnet the Elderman of the town.  We question him about the spy or spies.  Iveck says a hunter shot down a mechanical bird two days ago. It was carrying a message. He fishes in his pocket and brings out a piece of paper. He starts reading:

       “Locals identified southern springs as the source of the area’s mutations and now avoid it. Afflictions consistent with mutagenic gas poisoning, as you posited from Silver Mount expeditions. I will explore with caution; locals avoid the area and my current cover would seem noticeably out of place were I discovered there.” 

After reading, Iveck gives us the note and says there is one family living near the springs. There is also a mill where the mill owner takes in homeless wanderers. We thank Iveck and go visit the family by the springs.

We knock on the door of a small house. A woman answers the door. She’s surprised to see us and asks what we want. We can hear the laughter of children inside. We ask if she has seen anything suspicious lately. She shakes her head and says no, but maybe her boys have seen something. She lets us in and hurries off. We look at the boys and see the youngest has a cymbal, the kind gypsies use for dancing.  We ask him where he got the cymbal.  He says he got it near the springs, close to the edge.  We ask him to lead us to where he found it.  He leads us through the twisting Quarry and we find ourselves at the contaminated water.  He points at the sandy beach and says he found it there.  We trade the cymbal for a silver coin.  He promises not to tell anyone as long as he can.  He then runs off, screaming at the top of his lungs, saying he got a silver dollar.  We take the cymbal with us to the mill.

We speak to the workers and ask if we can have a chat with their boss.  They shout for their boss, Head Ech.  Ech comes out and talks with us.  He says gypsies come through often, and that there is a band under his roof right now.  We ask if we can talk to them.  He refuses, because most people accuse his visitors of unthinkable things.  After more convincing, and the showing of the cymbal, he lets us in.  We walk through the front door and into a warm and comforting lumber mill.  We see other refugees and people, but no gypsies.  We walk through the back door and see five gypsies softly talking in front of a caravan.  They stop and turn their backs when they see us.  We ask them questions, but they ignore us.  We bring out the cymbal and start talking.

A male gypsy turns around and looks at the cymbal.  He thinks the owner is their dancer, Ilaris.  He calls for her, but she doesn’t answer.  He says they met her on the crossroads just before they came to town.  They let her join because she is a gypsie.  We can see her if we want behind the caravan.  We turn the caravan corner. We see a black haired woman painting a picture of a devil and an angel fighting.  Tufast walks through her and we know it is and illusion.  Hiedt scans the horizon and says he can see a woman running away.  We follow in pursuit.  We pay beggars, jump over horses, go through brawls; Tufast and Charisma fire lightning bolts.  We finally catch up to her and Hiedt ties her up.  She refuses to speak, so Charisma casts charm person on her.

Just then Iveck and Red Tooth come running and asks what this is all about. We explain and Ilaris says she is a Technic League spy sent from Captain Garton.  Garton believes there is a Technological ruin under the town. She sent a message to him two days ago. Red Tooth takes her to jail and says she will be executed tomorrow. Iveck thanks us and leads us to the Dead Eye council.

The Dead Eye council thanks us and confirms that there is a ruin under the town.  A long time ago a farmer was digging up a well.  He dug about halfway, and then the ground around the well suddenly gave way.  He fell down and called for help.  Other farmers helped him out.  To their surprise a shimmering cloud flew up and ate him.  The others ran.  The Dead Eye council then sealed the entrance with magic.  If we want to go into the ruins we can.  The magic opening word is, “Never trust a fool”.  They will give us six magic arrows (of construct bane) if we go clear the place out.   We go to the well according to their directions and see it is overgrown with weeds.  Brocktha pushes on a giant slab of rock after we say the magic word.  Charisma casts light on a rock and throws it down.  A shimmering mist comes up and attacks.  It hurts everyone but Hiedt.  After we kill it Hiedt says it spoke to him and said, “Robot. Functioning.” We look down and can see sky metal caves.  Perhaps another part of the ship…